In brief:

I'm a redheaded mama with four lovely daughters. We're based in southern Australia and travel in a small, colourful housebus  meeting inspiring people, learning lots and re-thinking everything. I feel passionately about spirituality, good design, alternative education, discussing death and conscious parenting.

Free  all free!

This morning, we drove around to the local park after hearing that it was the venue for a “Community Fun Day”. Whatever that means.

I had no idea what to expect. So I simply told the girls that I thought there would be people there handing out balloons.

We arrived early  before the crowds  and the girls enjoyed taking turns playing on the different playgrounds.

The park is locally known as "Duck Park" because of its many waterways that are home to ducks, geese and at least one swan. The girls tried getting close to a black swan, but it took to the water before they were close enough to touch it.

When I saw the stallholders setting up, my heart sank. The girls also saw the brightly-coloured jumping castle and the petting zoo and started asking if they could participate. I returned to the car to raid the ash-tray for spare coins so the girls could go on some rides.

Delaney loves a good day out, and she wanted to test me on my emergency car stash too.

However, back in the park, after staking out the jumping castle, I couldn’t see a price anywhere. The petting zoo didn’t have a price sign either. Furthermore, it looked like kids were going in without money changing hands.

Yes, it was free  all free. Everything. The rides, the activities, the food, the drink. People were barbecuing sausages, others were serving drinks. Popcorn was handed out, shaved ice decorated into snow-cones.

We started the rounds of all the activities, stopping to indulge in the free food along the way.

The girls especially liked munching on some free potato crisps. (The packets were past their use-by dates.)

Aisha and Brioni tried out the jumping castle.

Volunteers decorated the girls' faces. Brioni asked for a ballerina, and Aisha wanted a horse.

Cali scored an apple slinky.

Two ladies had a card-making set-up. The girls glued little shapes onto paper until the volunteers' patience ran out.

Another first: snow-cones.

The girls made macaroni necklaces.

At two years old, Calista's fine motor skills are very good. She could thread the macaroni easily but lost interest in the activity before her necklace was complete.

Aisha and B moved to a colouring table when their necklaces were complete.

Patiently waiting in line for their turn.

I'm so proud of Aisha for being brave enough to ride this little horse!

Brioni was blasι about the ride and more concerned with getting to ride the white horse (which she did).

Even Cali had a turn on a horse! (They were *very* little horses.)

The girls were delighted to find an "angel" willing to read stories to them. (My girls were the only audience for the two books we sat through.)

A police patrol car was on display. Everyone was invited to sit in the car and have a look around. Some brave individuals even turned on the lights and siren when they were pretending to drive!

Before we left the park, I stopped to talk to the organisers and thank them for the event. The day was funded by government grants and staffed by volunteers. Some private companies also donated their equipment/staff/time to provide extra activities for the kids. The organisers’ line was that they wanted to provide a fun day out for the family with no cost to the public.

I have participated in many of these events. From a volunteers perspective I always had so much fun seeing the delight on parents faces who enjoyed their childrens joy. It was always great to have parents relatively stress free enjoying a day with their children. Of course I was always the fairy. Never a chore.